Wash down bacon treats with beer at Beer & Bacon Fest in Williamsville

As if running a candy store wasn’t enough to get the neighbors envious, Gayle Hardick has been cooking pans full of bacon in her Village Sweet Shop (1 Buffalo St., Hamburg).

“When I make bacon in my store, everybody smells it and comes over wanting breakfast,” Hardick said. Turns out she’s got a plan for all that bacon, though: the Beer & Bacon Fest, set for noon to 6 p.m. Saturday at Island Park (5565 Main St.) in Williamsville.

There, she’ll be offering her chocolate peanut butter bacon cups and bacon kettle corn, among other things. The festival will feature “everything revolving around bacon” from Hardick and seven other food vendors, including five food trucks.

The event is a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Network of WNY. It’s $5 to get in, plus cash for food. Besides bacon, there’s beer, too. A 20-brewer beer tasting is from 2 to 5 p.m.; it’s $30 in advance (www.beerbaconboobs.com) or $40 at the door.

Hardick’s chocolate peanut butter bacon cups are stuffed with bacon she gets from Hoelscher’s Meat. “It’s got to be really crispy, obviously,” she said. “You don’t want to be biting into the luscious peanut butter cup and find a stretchy piece of bacon.”

A four-ounce version will be $2, and a 6.5-ounce version – that’s right, nearly half a pound of peanut butter, chocolate and bacon – will be $3.

Then there’s the bacon kettle corn, which she makes one kettle at a time, adding seasonings and more of that crispy bacon while it’s still hot. Bags will be $2, $5 and $10.

She has a plan for bacon fatigue, too. “Sometimes at festivals people bacon themselves out,” Hardick said, “so I’m also bringing habanero truffles.”

German American Heritage Festival. German food, including sauerbraten dinners, bratwurst, knockwurst, desserts like lebkuchen, and more, including live music and a sauerkraut-eating contest from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in Cheektowaga Town Park. Admission is $4 advance (through www.buffalogerman.com), $6 door. Call 864-1965.